Digital TV

[Ken Juul]

I was helping my neighbor pull some coax in his house to get TV in a back bedroom.  He mentioned that he was told he needed RG-6 cable instead of the standard coax in order to see the digital channels. Curious....I have 8 year old coax coming down the mast from the antenna....maybe that's why my digital reception is so bad?  Or was the salesperson just telling tales?

[Momentum M]

I just purchased a 12V TV and antenna (with a 12V boster).  They sold me a RG-9 cable!!!  I haven't installed it yet but I tried it on the kitchen table (with a 110 to 12V converter) and I got 3 chanel w/o it and 12 cristal clear with the boster.
You could try google and you'll get all the information you need on the various cables available and you'll find your answer.
Good luck and when installed I'll let you guys know how it perform.

[Ron Hill]

Ken : I'm pleased with my Hinckley antenna on the boat. 
When I installed it Radio Shack recommended that I use "satellite dish" cable - not too sure of the RG #?  It is heavy cable and does a great job.

A thought

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Ken,
First off for TV applications, you want to stay with a 75 ohm coax like RG-59, RG-6 and RG-7. The 50 ohm RG-8, RG-9 and RG-58 is for transmitter applications like the VHF radios we use on our boats. The requirements for digital TV is no diferent than for analog TV including antennas. The cable you have is probably the older RG-59 which is OK but most of the cable companies have transitioned to the newer RG-6 which is a little bit heavier than the RG-59. With the old analog signals, if the signal was weak, you may just get a fuzzier picture, whereas with weak digital signals, you will see digital noise like the checkerboard patterns you may be seeing or it might cut off completely. If your signal is boarder line, changing to the RG-6 MAY make a difference and of course the new cable would also include new connectors which could also make a difference butyou may want to try an amplifier or signal booster first to see if that helps.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.
Mike

[Ron Hill]

Guys : You'd be surprised how many boat yards mix up the connectors when they wire in TV/FM 75 ohm and VHF Radio 50 ohm. They usually get the cabling correct, but be specially observant of their connectors ohm resistance!

So be awhere of impedance mismatch!!   A thought